Rome
I sat there for what seemed like a lifetime, holding my brother's body in my arms, sobbing into his hair. I whispered to him, even though he would not hear a word, willing him to return to me. I could not bear the pain wrenching my heart; I had never known agony like this and I prayed that I would never feel it again. I knew now that there was a great cost for having Cassius as both my twin brother and my best friend. Losing one was hard enough. Now I had lost the only person in the world who had truly understood me, the only one who had been there for me since my first steps on this earth. I had lost him.
I glanced up, my vision blurred by tears, and saw Godric, his head bowed over Cassius, tears falling slowly. He looked at me in return and I saw the despair in his eyes. He had lost his friend too, I could not forget that. I could not bear to look at him lest the tears fall more heavily and frequently than they already did. It was then that I glimpsed the knife that had clattered to the ground when my brother fell. It was still stained with his blood, the life force it had snatched away. I did not know what came over me next. My eyes saw the knife and Brutus sitting there, staring at the scene with horrified eyes; my mind told my muscles to move and all thought was suspended.
I leapt to my feet, throwing Cassius' corpse into Godric's arms, ignoring Godric's cry of my name. Nothing else mattered now, not now that Cassius was dead, taken from me. I snatched the knife off the ground easily and held it facing Brutus. He looked terrified, his eyes fixed on the blade, panting like a helpless animal. I was glad of his fear. I revelled in it. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to slash the knife at his skin and to spill his blood just as easily and heartlessly as he had spilled my brother's. It was my first moment of bloodlust, the first of many more yet to come.
'Aurora, stop!' Godric said, racing up to me. I swiveled on my heel, holding the knife wildly up to my beloved in order to stop him coming any closer. He clearly understood my warning and stopped, watching powerlessly as I turned back to Brutus.
'Are you satisfied?' I hissed in a tone I did not know I could produce. 'Are you? My brother is dead because of you.'
'I'm so sorry,' he whispered. 'I didn't mean ... I don't know what came over me ... '
'You plunged a knife into his side and you don't know what came over you? Well, maybe something will come over me and cause me to cut your throat!'
I felt Godric's hand on my arm and his voice in my ear, soft and calm. 'Aurora, please ... Put the knife down, my love ... '
'Why should I?' I hissed, tears forming in my eyes. 'Why should I spare him when he did not spare Cassius? I want to hurt him, Godric.'
'I know you do, my Aurora, I know. But be the better person. Do not shed his blood. Spare him.'
'Just as he spared my brother?' I snarled.
'My love, do not ruin your own life in taking his. Is that what Cassius would have wanted?'
I stopped and thought of my brother's dying words. In his last few moments on this earth, he had told me to live. I had promised him that I would live a long and happy life. What kind of life would be given to me if I avenged him and took Brutus' life? I would be executed and my dead brother's promise cast aside. I could not do that.
I cast the knife away with one final look at my brother's murderer and turned back to Cassius' body, lying there in the street. I slowly walked back to him and held him once again in my arms, singing a lullaby I had sang to him when he were children. I thought of the life that had been snatched away from him, the life he could have had. He would have gone to war and returned home a hero, marrying the prettiest, sweetest girl in the city and having as many children as they wanted. I imagined my brother's future, the one he would never had.
The tears fell.
I was restless waiting for Pam to return. I needed news, something to get me through whatever would be thrown at me next. I was tense and on edge, desperate for some sign that Pam had spoken to the King and that something was going to be done about these witches. They were dangerous – well, at least this Marnie was. But that fire behind her eyes was not normal, at least in witches I had encountered. The magic did not come from within her blood; it came from her body as though something else was inhabiting it. Was she possessed? Was that the reason behind her great, terrible power?
The phone rang and I all but leapt to grab it. I pressed it to my ear and for once, I was delighted to hear Pam's droll voice at the other end of the line.
'You have been summoned.'
I was taken aback by this greeting that I was not expecting and frowned. 'What?'
'The King wants to see you. I told him that this witch needed to be told what's what. She's here now, in his dungeon.'
'Marnie is there? Pam – '
'Before you go on your witchy danger bluster, it's fine. Bill went down to talk to her, ended up glamouring her. Guess what?'
'She can't reverse the spell on Eric,' I gathered from her tone. 'And the curse on you.'
'Ding, ding, ding,' she said in a tone that was beyond irritated; I could almost hear the venom dripping from her words. 'The idiot doesn't even know how she cast both of them, let alone how to reverse them.'
'Well, what does the King want with me?'
'He wants to speak to you about what happened to me, your take on it.'
'Why me?' I pressed her for answers.
'You're the oldest vampire in the area,' Pam continued. 'You've come across witches in your oh so long life. Bill hasn't. He wants to know more about what witches are capable of.'
I rolled my eyes, knowing that this summons was not one that I could take lightly and ignore. 'Tell your King that I will be there within the hour.'
The moment I found myself in front of the King's enormous, gleaming mansion, I knew that I was wandering into dangerous territory. The guards at the gate checked me over for any weapons whilst I rolled my eyes and passed them, wanting to get the interrogation that I knew awaited me over and done with. I was shown to an office, alien to the rest of the mansion due its modern look, and told that the King would be with me shortly. I did not sit because I felt uneasy so I stood in the centre of the room. My eyes wavered on all corners and all parts of the office, noticing cameras and various security gadgets. The computer screen was flickering in front of me, half-turned to face me. It depicted a prison, gleaming white and almost blinding, where a shaking Marnie sat on the sole piece of furniture, a bed-like object. I went closer to the screen and watched her as she chanted what I could only imagine to be spells of protection to get her through her hour of need. How could someone so weak produce powers that were so strong? Maybe she was possessed ...
'Miss Aurora,' drawled a Southern accent from behind me. I turned my head to find Bill Compton standing there, fixing his red tie. 'I'm so thankful that you came.'
I dipped my head in a respectful manner and watched him cautiously as he made his way round to his desk, his eyes never leaving me as he did so.
'My niece informed me that I had been summoned,' I said as he sat down in his chair. 'Naturally, I was obliged to come.'
'Ah, your niece,' he mused. 'I've seen her face, what the witch has done to her. Terrible thing to happen to anyone, let alone Pam.'
I bowed my head sadly. 'Truly it is. A terrible thing that I have been told cannot be undone.'
Bill grimaced and clasped his hands together in a business like fashion. 'Yes, I have glamoured the witch, this Marnie, and she has no clue as to how she cast the spell or how she can reverse it. For the meantime, Pam is stuck the way she is.'
'A rotting corpse,' I said, echoing Marnie's words used in the spell that had harmed my niece.
'Now, Miss Aurora, I called you here because I am in great need of your extensive knowledge.'
'I know what that means. I'm two thousand years old and you want to know about my time with witches.'
'Time with witches? I had heard that you have had your dealings with them ... '
'The witches I had my dealings with were not capable of the acts of magic that I have seen Marnie do. I was, and still am, acquainted with a family whose whole line has not even half the magic she possesses.'
'You saw Marnie cast the spell on Pam?'
'I did. I saw it all and I know that she is dangerous.'
Bill heaved a sigh and looked at me evocatively. 'I have an ulterior motive for bringing you here, Aurora. I summoned you to learn about this witch, but also, to question you on your brother's whereabouts.'
If my heart were still beating, it would have frozen at this very moment. I was calm and still, unmoving, a statue. I could not let him know about Eric. It was far too dangerous.
'My brother's whereabouts?' I asked dumbly.
Bill closed his eyes and opened them in a glare. 'I have already questioned his progeny but she claims to have no idea where he is. The loyalty of a progeny to a maker is second to none so even if she does know, she would not tell me. As you are his sister – '
'You think I know where he is. Your Majesty, if Pam, Eric's beloved child and companion for at least a century, does not know where he is, then surely I, his recently-discovered sister, would not have a damn clue.'
'I will ask you once more. Do you know where Eric is?'
'No, I do not,' I said firmly. 'I have not seen him at all.'
Bill nodded, not knowing whether to really take my word for it. 'Your loyalty to your brother is astounding, but to lie to me is treason.'
'Do you think I don't know that?' I challenged. 'I've been around probably longer than your ancestors. I have dealt with kings and queens more times than you have drank blood. I would not risk facing the True Death if I have lived for so long.'
'Not even to be reunited with your dear maker?' Bill stopped me.
My fangs dropped and my defence was on the rise when a guard came through the door, gun in hand. I begrudgingly retracted my fangs as Bill looked to his guard who informed him that the four remaining Sheriffs of Louisiana had arrived. Bill straightened up his suit and looked at me one final time.
'You and your niece will join us for our meeting to decide what is to be done with the witch. Your input may be needed in this particular matter.'
He held the door open with one hand and his eyes bored into me. I had to obey. I could not risk arousing more suspicion in him. I followed him into the room, joining my niece and the four Sheriffs, my heart cold and my insides fluttering like bats. He could not find out about Eric. His concentration had to be focused on Marnie and her powers, not my endangered, amnesiac Viking of a brother.
We brought Cassius home that very same night. When tears were no longer of consequence, I wanted to take him home myself, carrying him to my father, back to the place where we had grown up together. I was weakened by the loss of my twin and I could barely stand let alone carry my brother's corpse. Guards who had heard the commotion came across the scene within an hour of his death. They found a dead boy, cradled in his sobbing sister's arms, flanked by a distraught slave, with a nobleman's disgraced son muttering to himself prayers for forgiveness that would never be met. Two guards went towards Cassius' body, but I hissed and screeched like a lioness, keeping tight hold of my brother as though if I let him go for one moment, I would lose him forever. With some soothing words from Godric, I finally allowed two of the guards to place my brother on a makeshift stretcher as the other two apprehended his killer, dragging him away to await his punishment. I watched him briefly, knowing that pain and torment awaited him, both internally and externally. I pitied him for a moment, but my pity turned to anger as I turned back to my brother's body, soaked in blood and completely still.
The guards carrying my brother, led by Godric, brought him home slowly and in respectful silence. The servant who answered the door of our villa screamed at the sight of Master Cassius' body and yelled for help. The doors were thrust open and the guards took his body towards the atrium, settling him there and each whispering a prayer for this young boy, murdered in the prime of life. My own servants rushed towards me, panicked by the sight of blood staining my skin and my robes, fussing over me, checking me to see if I had been injured by the blade that had taken Cassius' life. I threw them off me and rushed to join my brother once more. I thanked the guards for their assistance and they offered me their condolences. I took their words and, after they had left, I knelt next to my brother, resuming my place at his side.
I had never seen him so beautiful as on that night, bathed in the silvery light of the moon, illuminated by the glow of the stars and a few candles lit here and there. His skin was glowing, even in the hue of death, and he seemed to have one last smile etched on his face. I stroked his cheeks and placed a lasting kiss on his forehead.
'Goodbye, my brother,' I whispered as I bent my head towards his.
A flurry and a raised voice told me that my father had been informed of the tragedy. He pushed past the servants, shouting at them not to bar him from his son a moment longer; however, he was still upon the sight of Cassius' body. I did not stand as I would have done in ordinary circumstances to show respect to my lord and father. I waited to see his reaction. I waited for him to join me in mourning for the fallen boy. Father was silent for a moment before his muscles made his still frame move and he clutched at his chest as though his heart was actually breaking. He then threw himself on the ground next to me, tears streaming down his face, his grieving howls filling the room; he rested his hands on his son's chest as though willing his heart to restart, crying out his name again and again. I had never seen my father cry before; my nurse who had delivered me had once told me that the only tears he had ever shed were when he lost his wife, my mother. Now, the tears had returned.
I stood in order to give my father some room to grieve his dead boy when my head was overcome and my legs buckled under me. I fell to the ground and a pair of strong arms were there to catch me, lifting me into them without a moment's hesitation. With an explanation to the servants that he would put me to bed as my grief was taking its toll, Godric carried me to my room where he laid me in my bed, stroking away a strand of hair that threatened my eyes and kissing my forehead softly.
'Sleep now, my love,' he murmured. 'Rest.'
When he moved to position himself better beside me, I mistook this for him leaving and gripped his arms; he shook his head and sighed heavily, his voice laden with sorrow.
'I am not going anywhere. I will never leave you when you need me.'
I nodded and forced my eyes shut, willing sleep to take over me and rid me of this day. Part of me wanted to believe that this had all been a bad dream, a nightmare, and that when I awoke, my brother would be alive and well, grinning and laughing as usual. I knew that this was not a dream and that my brother was gone. I would never see him again. I would never hold him again.
I murmured a prayer to the gods to care for my brother in the afterlife and a plea to the spirit of my mother who I knew was watching over me to welcome Cassius, her son, into her arms. Then, there was darkness as I drifted to sleep, Godric's fingers caressing my face to will me to sleep and my tears, both fresh and dried, fusing my eyes shut.
